The almost universally used process for the manufacture of alumina is the Bayer process. In a typical commercial Bayer process, raw bauxite is continuously fed to a breaker. There, the ore is pulverized to a finely divided state. The pulverized ore is then fed to a slurry mixer where a 50% solids slurry is prepared using spent liquor. This bauxite slurry is then diluted and sent through three digester (in series) where, at about 300.degree.-800.degree. F. and 100-2000 p.s.i., 98% of the total available alumina is extracted from ore which may contain both trihydrate and monohydrate forms. The effluent from the digesters passes through a series of flash tanks wherein heat and condensate are recovered as the digested slurry is cooled to about 230.degree. F. and brought to atmospheric pressure. The aluminate liquor leaving the flashing operation contains about 2-4 solids and is fed to the center well of a mud settler. As the mud settles, clarified sodium aluminate solution, referred to as "green" or "pregnant" liquor, overflows a weir at the top of the mud settling tank and is passed to the subsequent process steps. The settled solids ("red mud") are withdrawn from the bottom of the mud settler and passed through a countercurrent washing circuit for recovery of sodium aluminate and caustic. The red muds, include iron oxides as one of the most difficultly removed impurities. The muds appear as very fine particles which are often difficult to separate out. They usually constitute about 30-70, by weight, of the ore and must be rapidly and cleanly separated from the solubilized alumina liquid in order to make this particular step economically efficient. If the rate of separation is too slow, output is materially diminished and overall process efficiency impaired. Likewise, if the separation is not clean, the resultant alumina is somewhat crude and contains sufficiently high levels of iron to make it undesirable for a number of end-uses.
Among the methods of overcoming the above problems and materially speeding up separation of red muds from alumina as well as effecting a cleaner separation of the constitutents are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,959 which employs polyacrylates as anionic flocculants and U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,012, which uses combinations of polyacrylates and starch to settle red mud in Bayer alumina recovery circuits. Also of interest in this connection are U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,496 which uses a copolymer of acrylic acid and methylolated acrylates for the same purpose, and U.K. Patent Specification Nos. 2080272 and 2112366, which use, sequentially, combinations of polyacrylic acid and acrylate-acrylamide copolymers. Other approaches have been proposed: in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56092116 (July 25, 1981) is disclosed starch cationized with a quaternary ammonium salt for use as a coagulant for red mud; U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,925 promotes ferrous iron separation from alkali metal aluminate liquor by contacting it with anionic polyacrylamide under special conditions within the mud settler; East German (DE) Pat. No. 2552804 (Aug. 11, 1987) subjects starch to treatment with sodium tetraborate and a magnesium salt to provide improved flocculating properties with lower levels of starch; Russian Pat. No. 507526 (Apr. 6, 1976) reports that cationic flocculants of the formula (R--Ar--CH.sub.2 --N--Ph).sup.+ Cl.sup.- are better for mud solids flocculation than other known flocculants; Japanese Pat. No. J74018558 (Oct. 5, 1974) discloses using an inorganic calcium compound and sodium polyacrylate for red mud sedimentation and filtration; Japanese Pat. No. J50096460A (July 31, 1975) uses a polymeric sodium acrylate, followed by a cationic polymer flocculant, such as a poly(beta-(methacryloxy)ethyltrimethylammonium chloride) to separate red mud from waste water and U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,255 teaches the use of organic polymeric, water-soluble, cationic quaternary ammonium salts such as poly(diallyldimethyl ammonium chloride) to remove organics. Additionally, copending applications Ser. Nos. 763,863 filed Aug. 9, 1985 and 883,462, filed July 16, 1986, teach the removal of that portion of the iron impurities associated with the organics from Bayer process streams with quaternary polyamines.
While the above enumerated Bayer process stream purification methods each tend to remove some quantity of iron therefrom, none have focused exclusively on iron removal to the extent that the final alumina product is not undersirably contaminated therewith. The iron present in the Bayer process streams exists in at least one of three forms and often as all three. These three forms are particulate iron, soluble iron and colloidal iron. Oftimes one of these iron forms is removed by the normal flocculation of the red mud of the Bayer process, however, all three forms can constitute a problem when present in the liquor entering the precipitation step in that the alumina product recovered as the main product of the Bayer process will thereby be contaminated by unacceptable levels of iron.
The process of the present invention is designed to remove iron from Bayer process liquor streams no matter in which form the iron exists and usually even if present in all forms.
Thus, the instant process provides for the removal of iron from Bayer process liquors normally left behind by conventional pregnant liquor purification methods.